A graduate of Howard University and the British American Drama Academy, Chadwick Boseman intended to write and direct. But his career took him on a different path. He first taught drama in Harlem for five years before making the move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. After a string of bit parts on "All My Children," "Law & Order," "ER,” and "Lie to Me," Boseman got his first series regular role on the short-lived crime drama "Lincoln Heights."

Boseman’s breakout role came in 2013 when he was cast as baseball great Jackie Robinson in the biopic 42. In 2014 he took on the role of another legend, James Brown, in the critically acclaimed biopic Get on Up. You can also catch Boseman as the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, in the 2017 biopic Marshall.

Michael B. Jordan is no stranger to the superhero genre, having played Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and the superpowered high schooler Steve Montgomery in Chronicle. He also lent his voice to Cyborg in "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox." In Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan tackles his first supervillain as Erik Killmonger, who in the comics is exiled from Wakanda and becomes T’Challa’s nemesis.

This is Jordan's third collaboration with director Ryan Coogler. He started in 2013 with Coogler’s first feature-length film Fruitvale Station, which recounts the events leading up to the death of Oscar Grant by BART police in 2009. In 2015, Jordan returned to star in Coogler’s second feature, the Rocky spinoff Creed.

Lupita Nyong'o stars as Nakia, T’Challa’s love interest and a spy for the Wakandan nation.

After graduating from Hampshire College, Nyong'o started her film career behind the camera, working as a production assistant on The Constant Gardener and directing the documentary In My Genes, a film about the discrimination of albinos in Kenya.

Nyong’o has had an impressive acting career, winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for her first feature role in Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave. She repeated that first-time success with a Tony Award in 2016 for her Broadway debut in "Eclipsed."

Danai Gurira stars as Okoye, friend of Nakia and head of the order of the Dora Milajie, which is the king of Wakanda's personal guard.

Gurira is best known for her work as Michonne, the sword-wielding zombie outbreak survivor on "The Walking Dead." It's a role she’s held for six seasons. In addition to acting, Gurira is also a successful playwright, receiving the Whiting Award for an emerging playwright in 2012 and the Sam Norkin Award in 2016 for her plays "Familiar" and "Eclipsed" (for which Lupita Nyong’o received a Tony award).

If British actor Daniel Kaluuya looks familiar, you probably recognize him as Chris, the terribly unlucky boyfriend from the horror-comedy Get Out. If you’re from the United Kingdom, you might know him from his role as Posh Kenneth from the teen drama "Skins," for which he was both an actor and staff writer, or from his stints on sci-fi series "The Fades" and "Black Mirror." Kaluuya will be lending his voice as the rabbit Bluebell in the upcoming Netflix/BBC miniseries remake of the animated film, Watership Down.

In Black Panther, Kaluuya stars as W’Kabi, T’Challa’s second-in-command, who in the comics is the chief of Wakandan security, wary of outside influence.

Sterling K. Brown has been working steadily in TV and film since 2002, landing his first series regular role as Officer Edward Dade in "Third Watch" and following up with appearances on "NYPD Blue," "Supernatural," and "Alias." In 2007 he kicked off a seven-season run on the Lifetime drama "Army Wives" alongside his wife Ryan Michelle Bathe. In 2018, Brown won both an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Randall Pearson in the breakout NBC drama series "This Is Us."

Sterling K. Brown stars as N’Jobu, a mysterious figure from T’Challa’s past who does not appear in the "Black Panther" comics.

In 2011, Serkis founded the Imaginarium Studios, a London-based digital studio specializing in motion capture technology for TV, film, and video games. Andy Serkis reprises his role as black-market arms dealer and assassin Ulysses Klaue, first seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Kasumba has worked mainly in German film and TV, with recurring roles on the long-running German detective series "Tatort" and the fantasy-themed reality series, "The Quest." In 2017, she appeared as the East Witch in NBC's Wizard of Oz retelling, "Emerald City," and as Senator Acantha in the DC Universe film Wonder Woman.

Wright plays Shuri, T'Challa's younger half-sister and a princess in her own right. Shuri has all of the skills and abilities of a Black Panther, and is described as "the smartest person in the world."